Samizdata: 200. Instapundit: 27

All of a sudden, Portugal’s sounding like an excellent vacation spot!

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds has been out promoting his new book. In order to demonstrate how well connected to the world ordinary people now are, how much choice they have, and much information they have easy and inexpensive access to, he has repeatedly brought up the example of the bar he likes to work ” with 27 kinds of beer on tap, a nice patio and… a free wireless Internet hookup,”

It sounds reasonably good.

As it happens though, Jonathan Pearce and I went to Porto in Portugal last weekend in order to get pissed have a stimulating weekend. On saturday night, we ended up in a bar with a choice of over 200 kinds of port. There was something work related that I had to get done reasonably promptly, so I got out of my laptop and joy of joys, the bar was providing free wireless there too. I was able to get my work done. It certainly beat spending time in the office. It beat a mere 27 kinds of beer too.

So what can I say? Samizdata 200 – Instapundit 27. We win.

Heh. Indeed^TM.

In the Four Seasons’ UItimate Bartender’s Guide, the authors have a great recipe for a Brandied Port (Churchill was apparently a big fan of this combination, from what I’ve read) that’s worth experimenting with: pour four ounces of Port, a half ounce of Cognac into a wine (or brandy) glass, and stir. It adds a nice little extra bit of complexity to the Port, and is a breeze to make.